I think that Israel should talk to the Palestinians. This would obviously be a good thing. But they have little reason to right now. They are expanding West Bank settlements with impunity, and even though they just reinvaded Gaza and newly radicalized anti-Israeli sentiment in the Middle East it seems unlikely that any Arab nations will actually declare war on Israel. Israel seems more and more comfortable with being hated, I suppose because they still have the most powerful nation in the world on their side.
If he wanted, Obama could have a significant impact on this issue. We'll see how he deals with this conflict--his choice of George Mitchell as envoy seems like a promising start.
